Article hanger



P 1956 o. M. KIRSCH ARTICLE HANGER Filed Dec. 26. 1952 FIG. 5 :i?

Inventor: Oscar M. Kirsch FIG. 2

his Attorney United states Patent ARTICLE HANGER Oscar M. Kirsch, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii Application December 26, E52, Serial No. 328,061

1 Claim. (Cl. 248-305) The present invention relates to an article hanger and, more particularly, to an improved hanger for suspending flower-pots and the like from a support.

So far as is known, all previously proposed hangers, of the type of the presently improved hanger, have employed a gripping or holding member or membersthat grips the pot, container or the like-which is connected to the suspending portion of the hanger in such a way that any undue strain, pull or knock from, of or upon the article suspended will cause the detent or holding member to relax or release its grip, thus allowing the article to fall.

The object of the invention is the provision of a very simple and inexpensive article hanger, particularly adapted to suspend flower-pots, other containers or articles, and which is formed of a single integral strand of wire-like material in a manner to provide a suspending portion and an article gripping portion, the latter portion being such that it is not influenced or caused to release or relax its grip on the article, being suspended, by any normally occasioned strains or pull on or of the article that is transmitted to the suspending portion of the hanger or by knocking against the same.

The object of the invention is attained by fashioning a length of wire or wire-like material, having a formsustaining stiffness, to provide a suspending part, that has an end portion insertable into a container, article or flower-pot and lies along an inner side Wall thereof with its other end formed to engage over a substantially horizontal positioned or stretched rod, rope or wire or over a stud or the like projecting from a Wall or vertical surface, the lower end of said suspending part being formed with an upstanding portion whose upper end portion is bent upon itself downwardly to provide a spring-like finger having an inturned detent to engage and grip the outer side of said wall of the container, article or flowerpot, preferably, under a shoulder, ridge or the like provided thereon.

While the principal object and advantages of the present article hanger have been set-forth I generally above, other objects and advantages thereof will be manifest from the following detailed specification of the preferred forms of the invention as at present devised and used and from which a better understanding may be had of the invention.

In the drawings, which form a part of this specification by reference and which illustrate the presently preferred forms of the invention:

Figure l is a perspective view of one form of the article-hanger and showing its manner of use in suspending a flower-pot or the like;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the present article hanger slightly modified to adapt it for suspending a flower-pot or the like from a nail or stud projecting from a wall or the like;

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the article hanger shown in Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the hanger illustrating the latch member having been adjusted to allow the same to cooperate with articles or containers having thin walls.

Referring in detail to the drawings, in which like characters of reference denote similar and like parts throughout the several views, the :article hanger H of this invention is formed of a single strand of relatively stiff wire or wire-like material that is form-sustaining and, preferably, having some resiliency, the said strand being of sufiicien't length so that, when bent or fashioned into shape, its several portions or parts will assume the relationship shown in the drawings, although the exact dimensions or rel tive proportions may be varied from that shown.

The strand of wire-like material provides the hanger H by bending it upon itself at, about two-thirds /3) of its length from one end thereof, to form two spaced and substantially parallel legs 4 and 5, the remaining third of the length of said strand (carried by leg 5) being bent upwardly to provide a latch support 6 lying between the legs 4 and 5, thus the legs 4 and 5 being substantially co-extensive. The upper free end portion of the strand forming the latch support 6 is bent downwardly, from a point about one-third /3) of its length, to form a spring finger 7 lying outside the plane of the parts 4, 5 and 6, the free or distal extremity of said finger 7 being inturned laterally-toward the latch support 6 to form a gripping detent 3. 'The detent 8 is, preferably, of a length to allow it to extend under a shoulder, ridge or the like .9 usually provided on most flower-pots and to engage the outer surface of the wall of the pot or container; and the extremity of the detent 8 may be pointed, as at 9, so as to bite into the outer surface of said wall particularly when the flower-pot or other container is not provided with the shoulder s or is constructed of sheetfiber or such like thin material.

It will be noted that it is preferred, though not necessary, that the part 6 be between the legs 4 and 5 and each spaced from the other so as to give a three point contact with the container being suspended by the hanger-that is, when the lower end portions 4 and 5 of the hanger are inserted into and along the inner side wall of a flower-pot or other container A to be suspended, the opposing portions of the legs 4 and 5 will engage said inner surface of said wall at laterally spaced points and the latch detent 8 will contact and exert its pressure upon the outer surface of said wall :at a point between the points of contact of the legs 4 and 5 on the inner surface of said wall, thus holding the flower-pot or container firmly between said points of contact.

When the hanger is used with a container having very thin walls, such as sheet-fiber or the like, the latch supporting part or arm 6 may be bent or offset inwardly of the legs 4 and 5, as indicated in Figure 4, so as to compensate for this lesser thickness and bring the pointed end 9 of the latch-detent 8 into firm biting contact with walls of the container to "assure good grip of the container. This bending or offsetting may be effected by the user, as necessity indicates, and is allowed by the construction and relationship of the parts 4, 5 and 6.

As shown in Figure 1, the upper end of the suspending part of the hanger H, formed by the upper connected portions of legs 4 and 5, is curved laterally and downwardly to provide a hook member 10 that may conveniently engage over a horizontally disposed pipe, rod, rope, wire, or the like P; while, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the closed or connected upper ends of the legs 4 and 5, provide an open loop 12 that may be engaged over a nail or stud-like member N projecting from a wall or like vertical surface, from which the hanger and its supported flower-pot or other container A may be suspended. When so suspended from a wall surface, it will be noted that the spring-finger 6 will be against the wall and the weight of container A, and its contents, will further assure the continued gripping engagement of the latchdetent 8 therewith.

The hanger H of the present invention is particularly useful by nursery-men in greenhouses for the purpose of utilizing the greenhouse area to the maximum extent and, also, to provide proper drainage and aeration for seedling plants, especially such as orchids; however, it is obvious that the hanger has other uses and may be employed wherever it is desired to display suspended potted-flowers on porches, garden walls or the like.

The hanger is easily inserted into and removed from the pot by pressing back the spring-finger 7 to move the detent 8 out of its latching position and it is clear from the above that, because of the particular formation and disposition of the latching parts (6, 7 and 8), the latching position of the detent 8 is not affected or influenced to relax and release the pot or container A by the mere weight or strain of the container, and its contents, transmitted to the suspending legs 4 and or the mere knocking against the suspended container and/or its hanger; but, to the contrary, such weight, strain or the like tends to cause the detent to grip the suspended container A more firmly.

Having thus described and illustrated the article-hanger of the present invention and the manner in which it is to be performed, it will be obvious that certain changes, variations or modifications may be made thereto; and, therefore, it is to be understood the article hanger of this invention is not to be limited to the exact form therein described and shown but only by the spirit thereof and the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is:

A hanger for containers comprising an open loop formed of an elongated strand of form-sustaining material, the legs of said loop being spaced and substantially co-extensive, an elongated latch supporting member of the same material extending from the free end of one of said legs toward the other end of said leg for a distance less than the length of said leg and disposed between said legs and manually adjustable relative to the plane of said legs to ofiset said member relative to said legs, a spring-like latch finger extending from the other end of said latch supporting member in spaced, opposing and outwardly oifset relation thereto, and a laterally projecting pointed detent extending from the free end of said finger and directed toward said latch supporting member and disposed intermediate the closed and free ends of said legs, whereby said free end portions of the legs of said loop may be inserted into said container along the inner surface of the side wall thereof and said finger sprung open to receive and overlie the upper rim and down the outer side surface of said Wall of said container with said detent engaging said outer side of said container, the closed end portion of said container forming a support engaging means for said hanger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 764,042 Cobbett July 5, 1904 858,840 Leeuwen July 2, 1907 873,488 De Beaumont et al. Dec. 10, 1907 1,334,199 Weiseman Mar. 16, 1920 1,599,525 Hanson Sept. 14, 1926 2,544,516 Walters Mar. 6, 1951 

